Liddy Pereira, 42, who lives in Godalming, Surrey, creates beautiful outfits mixing colours, and is known for photos which explore her creative side.
She specialises in corporate communications. Before launching her own company, she worked for some of the leading corporate communications consultancies. Her clients have included Expedia, Tetra Pak and Microsoft MSN, among others. Liddy has worked with both large consumer brands and smaller companies who wanted to increase their traction in the UK and international media.
Liddy has always been a creative person: her Masters degree was in Writing and Performance, and she loves literature and drama. She sings and writes poetry.
It all Started During Lockdown
It was during lockdown that Liddy had a "ah ha" moment and started exploring the world of colour. She had a colour analysis a few years ago by House of Colour, who identified her as a blue Spring. HoC use seasonal analysis, but instead of just labelling you as a spring or a summer, for example, they identify your sub season.
It wasn't too much of a surprise to Liddy to be diagnosed a blue Spring. She says: "My strong gut instinct was that I was a spring and the analysis made sense as I was naturally drawn to this colour palette. I’ve always known I look good in spring blues and love bright and clear colours.
"It’s not just about knowing what colours suit - the trick is how to combine them and that’s what I’ve been exploring during my colour journey. I am a creative soul but it’s only in the last year this has truly been reflected through my clothes.
"Pre-lockdown I wasn’t really very interested in clothes at all, but I always gravitated to spring colours: I just didn’t always know how to combine and balance them. "
Liddy started embracing her colour palette with small changes, like wearing a scarf in one of her Wow colours. Wearing colours that suit you give you a glow and radiance, and Liddy's confidence grew so that she started to experiment more with colour mixing, even "stealing" colours from other seasonal palettes.
She explains: "I'm at the cooler end of the spring season which crosses over into winter. so I enjoy taking a winter colour like fuchsia and adding a yellow to warm it up and create a surprising contrast."
A Personal Style
Liddy describes her style as elegant and classically feminine with a playful twist. Her style trademark is having fun with how she dresses, and adding embellishments like a textured scarf, piece of interesting jewellery or funky coloured tights.
This is often anchored by a classical silhouette as she likes tailored and classic coats and smart jackets.
Liddy is enviably tall and willowy, with an hourglass shape. She says she has a long torso and often uses wide obi- style belts to emphasise her waist.
She's constantly discovering new colour combinations, and her recent favourites include pink and green; red and blue; orange and turquoise, and green and blue.
Her favourite styles from Kettlewell Colours are the short tie wraps, dresses, and fitted tops. She loves the neatness of the short tie wraps. Liddy avoids baggy silhouettes which drown her delicate frame.
Photography as a Creative Outlet
Liddy has always been drawn to colour and she has a passion for art. Her interest in dressing in colour as a means of personal expression and an art form piqued during lockdown, when she couldn’t go to galleries and see live art. The world felt very grey.
Lockdown was very tough for Liddy as not only did she have to work and home school her children, aged six and nine, but she was battling serious health issues, and had a major operation last July.
She says: "I discovered that dressing in my colours was a tonic which could keep me upbeat and feeling good about myself and about life. I started my Instagram account, @mycolourlanguage, to share sartorial combinations and other images which inspire me and it has mushroomed in popularity."
One of the reasons for its popularity is Liddy's use of photography. She only started taking "selfies" in lockdown, after joining the Kettlewell colour club. Says Liddy: "Self portraiture been a fun journey. I confess that I actually used to hate photos of myself, and I felt awkward in front of the camera. I don’t mind it now because I see it as creative play time and I feel more confident in my own look and style.
"I've always had a fascination about the beauty of a single moment and get entranced by little details: a shard of light; a reflection; colours of nature; textures. I have often felt that if we maintain an open mind, the information we process can be a great source of inspiration. That is why I like to photograph details in nature to capture a transient moment to keep the experience alive, even if a photograph is but an echo."
Liddy's Tips for Good Outfit Selfies
"Background lighting is key. Ideally you want good light but soft and not too harsh. I often photograph outside in natural light. The lighting is absolutely key to the photo and you can look 10 times better in flattering light which helps softens shadows and lines!
"I try to think of the total frame composition to add interest. I’m often taking photos outside in nature and juxtaposing the colours of my clothes against the backgrounds. All colours interact so we need to be conscious of the overall colour scheme and colour balance in our photo.
"I also think about angles and don’t always photograph myself looking directly at the camera. Sometimes a side view or the back of an outfit can make a really good image. "
"I take my photos on my phone. Often I use the video feature and will take a 20 second video and then quickly find the right frame I want to use, and screen grab it. It doesn’t take long to execute. If you use a self timer, it’s easy to blink at the wrong time so my mini video approach works well."
Looking Ahead to the Future
Colour is not just a hobby: it may soon become a business. Liddy says she has found herself becoming passionate about the transformative power of colour.
"My infectious enthusiasm for this has been magnetic to people who know me. Friends and family have asked me to take them shopping, and the joy I’ve experienced bringing colour in to their worlds has been immense.
"I’m keen (initially a side interest) to train in colour and style analysis through the London College of Style, and to have a colour studio at home.
"I’m saving up for training and an architect is costing out my creative space!"
This development is a natural progression for someone who helps to fine tune brand identity for corporate clients. Liddy hopes to tap in to this and offer a more bespoke service for clients looking to discover their own personal voice through clothing.
She plans not to work for one of the leading colour franchises but to be independent. "I have a way to go with all these plans, but am excited about my new chapter," says Liddy.
Three Style Tips from Liddy Pereira
- Feel confident in our own skin:
- If we radiate that inner glow, we always look and feel better. While it’s fabulous to feel we look our best, it’s much more fundamental than that: dressing well is all about how we feel on the inside.
- Don’t be afraid to try something new for fear of getting it wrong. Play around and enjoy being creative with clothes. It’s amazing how many new outfits we can create from our wardrobe by trying new combinations. Kids love dress up and it can be just as fun as an adult!
- I believe that dressing for your true self means knowing what clothes makes you feel good, caring less about what others may think, and having the confidence to carry it off! I would urge everyone to consider a colour consultation, as colour can really transform how we look.
I hope you enjoy meeting Liddy - and have a good International Women';s Day. I'm back tomorrow with a fashion post for #WowOnWednesday. Hope you can join me.
Sharing this post with: On Mondays We Link Up at Glass of Glam, Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, #SpreadTheKindness and #Linkup on the Edge at Shelbee on the Edge, #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings, Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Style with a Smile at Stylesplash, TFF at Doused in Pink, Lizzie in Lace, Confident Twosday at IDoDeclaire, Rena at Fine Whatever, Fabulous Fridays at Lucy Bertoldi, #Neverendingstyle at The Grey Brunette, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style, Traffic Jam Weekend at Life as a Leo Wife Weekday Wear Link-Up at Away from the Blue Sunday Showcase with Chez Mireille and Elegance and Mommyhood (first Sunday of the month), Stylish Monday (first Monday of the month) with Ask Suzanne Bell, Talent Sharing Tuesdays at Scribbling Boomer, Link Up Pot Pourri at My Bijou Life
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